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Reflections of Common Life
The SeafarerThe WandererThe Wife’s LamentPoetry from the Exeter
Book
did you know? The Exeter Book . . .
• consists of 131 leaves of
parchment, each slightly
bigger than a standard
sheet of paper.
• has knife cuts on some
of its pages, which
suggests that at one
point it was used as a
cutting board.
• inspired the building of
a 19-foot-high stainless-
steel statue imprinted
with riddles in the city
of Exeter.
Meet the Author
Nothing is known about the authors of “The Seafarer,” “The
Wanderer,” and “The Wife’s Lament.” All three poems survive in the
Exeter Book, a manuscript of Anglo-Saxon poems produced by a single
scribe around a.d. 950. In addition to these and other secular
poems, the Exeter Book contains religious verse, nearly 100
riddles, and a heroic narrative. It is the largest collection of
Old English poetry in existence.
Neglected Treasure Originally, the Exeter Book belonged to
Leofric (lAPE-frGk), the
first bishop of Exeter. He donated it to the Exeter Cathedral
library sometime between 1050 and 1072. For several centuries the
book was neglected and abused; few people were able to read the Old
English language in which it was written and thus had little use
for it. Some pages are badly stained or scorched. The original
binding and an unknown number of pages are lost.
Rediscovery With the rise of Anglo-Saxon studies in the 19th
century, scholars began to take an interest in the Exeter Book.
Benjamin Thorpe published the first complete translation in 1842.
He assigned titles to “The Seafarer” and “The Wanderer,” as none of
the poems in the manuscript had titles. A photographic facsimile
was published in 1933; it became the basis for later scholarly
editions. A CD version, with facsimile pages and audio readings,
was released in 2006.
The original manuscript still resides at the library at Exeter
Cathedral, where it is cherished as one of the few surviving
collections of Anglo-Saxon poetry.
The Exeter Book c. 950
102
READING 3 Evaluate the changes in sound, form, figurative
language, and dramatic structure in poetry across literary time
periods. 7 Analyze how patterns of imagery reveal theme, set tone,
and create meaning. RC-12(A) Reflect on understanding to monitor
comprehension.
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When are people most alone?When people find themselves cut
off
from contact with others, the sense of
isolation can be all consuming. It is not
surprising that loneliness is a frequent
topic in poetry written during the
Anglo-Saxon era—an era during which
disease, war, and other perils often
wrenched people away from their loved
ones. In many Anglo-Saxon poems,
images of freezing seas and jagged
cliffs mirror this sense of isolation
and the challenge of living in a harsh,
unpredictable world.
QUICKWRITE Imagine that you are
making a five-minute silent film about
isolation and loneliness. What would
you show onscreen? Where would you
set the film? Who would the main
character be, and what would he or she
be doing? List some visual images that
come to mind.
Film Images
• single robed traveler, trudging across the Sahara Desert
• endless sand dunes
literary analysis: imagery
Poets communicate through imagery, words and phrases that
re-create sensory experiences for the reader by appealing to
one or more of the five senses. Notice how the imagery in
this
passage from “The Seafarer” appeals to the senses of sight,
touch, and hearing:
My feet were cast
In icy bands, bound with frost,
With frozen chains, and hardship groaned
Around my heart.
The images bring to mind coldness and confinement and
suggest the speaker’s lonely, painful emotional state. As
you
read the following three poems, pay attention to the
imagery,
allowing it to evoke ideas and feelings in you.
Review: Old English Poetry
reading strategy: monitor your understanding
These poems have been translated from Old English into
Modern English, but sections of the texts may still be hard
to
understand. Use the following strategies to understand them:
• Visualize the many images layered in the poems.
• Question as you read. Ask who the speaker is, for example.
• Reread passages that are confusing.
• Paraphrase difficult lines, restating them in your own
words.
• Clarify events. The speakers remember past experiences and
reflect on their present experiences. Let indentations and
stanza breaks alert you that the speaker is turning to a new
thought.
For each poem, create a chart to record what the speaker
remembers or ponders in each section of the poem to help
clarify events the speaker describes.
“The Seafarer”
Section Speaker Remembers or Ponders
Section 1 (lines 1–26) being cold, hungry, and lonely on the
sea
Section 2
Complete the activities in your Reader/Writer Notebook.
103
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This tale is true, and mine. It tellsHow the sea took me, swept
me backAnd forth in sorrow and fear and pain,Showed me suffering in
a hundred ships,In a thousand ports, and in me. It tellsOf smashing
surf when I sweated in the coldOf an anxious watch, perched in the
bowAs it dashed under cliffs. My feet were castIn icy bands, bound
with frost,With frozen chains, and hardship groanedAround my heart.
Hunger toreAt my sea-weary soul. No man shelteredOn the quiet
fairness of earth can feelHow wretched I was, drifting through
winterOn an ice-cold sea, whirled in sorrow,Alone in a world blown
clear of love,Hung with icicles. The hailstorms flew.The only sound
was the roaring sea,The freezing waves. The song of the swanMight
serve for pleasure, the cry of the sea-fowl,The death-noise of
birds instead of laughter,The mewing of gulls instead of
mead.Storms beat on the rocky cliffs and were echoed
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10
15
20
background The poems in the Exeter Book reflect the hardship and
uncertainty of life in Anglo-Saxon times. Men who made their living
on the sea had to leave behind their families and sail long
distances in primitive, poorly equipped boats. The women and
children left behind endured months and even years without knowing
whether their menfolk would return. In addition, frequent outbreaks
of disease and war scattered communities and brought untimely death
to many people.
The Seafarer
Language Coach
Etymology A word’s etymology, or origin, can help you understand
its connotations—the images or feelings connected with a word.
Wretched, which comes from the Old English wrecca (“outcast or
exile”), means “miserable.” Why is wretched a better word than
miserable in lines 12–17?
22 mead (mCd): an alcoholic beverage
drunk at Anglo-Saxon gatherings.
104 unit 1: the anglo-saxon and medieval periods
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By icy-feathered terns and the eagle’s screams;No kinsman could
offer comfort there,To a soul left drowning in desolation. a
And who could believe, knowing butThe passion of cities, swelled
proud with wineAnd no taste of misfortune, how often, how wearily,I
put myself back on the paths of the sea.Night would blacken; it
would snow from the north;Frost bound the earth and hail would
fall,The coldest seeds. And how my heartWould begin to beat,
knowing once moreThe salt waves tossing and the towering sea!The
time for journeys would come and my soulCalled me eagerly out, sent
me overThe horizon, seeking foreigners’ homes.
But there isn’t a man on earth so proud,So born to greatness, so
bold with his youth,Grown so brave, or so graced by God,That he
feels no fear as the sails unfurl,Wondering what Fate has willed
and will do.No harps ring in his heart, no rewards,
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30
35
40
a
IMAGERY
In lines 12–26, what senses does the
imagery appeal to? Describe the
mood created by the imagery.
24 terns: sea birds similar to gulls.
Analyze VisualsDescribe the mood of this
photograph as well as
those on pages 109 and
113. What features of each
landscape determine
its mood?
the seafarer 105
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No passion for women, no worldly pleasures,Nothing, only the
ocean’s heave;But longing wraps itself around him.Orchards blossom,
the towns bloom,Fields grow lovely as the world springs fresh,And
all these admonish that willing mindLeaping to journeys, always
setIn thoughts traveling on a quickening tide.So summer’s sentinel,
the cuckoo, singsIn his murmuring voice, and our hearts mournAs he
urges. Who could understand,In ignorant ease, what we others
sufferAs the paths of exile stretch endlessly on? b
And yet my heart wanders away,My soul roams with the sea, the
whales’Home, wandering to the widest cornersOf the world, returning
ravenous with desire,Flying solitary, screaming, exciting meTo the
open ocean, breaking oathsOn the curve of a wave.
Thus the joys of God cAre fervent with life, where life
itselfFades quickly into the earth. The wealthOf the world neither
reaches to Heaven nor remains.No man has ever faced the dawnCertain
which of Fate’s three threatsWould fall: illness, or age, or an
enemy’sSword, snatching the life from his soul.The praise the
living pour on the deadFlowers from reputation: plantAn earthly
life of profit reapedEven from hatred and rancor, of braveryFlung
in the devil’s face, and deathCan only bring you earthly praiseAnd
a song to celebrate a placeWith the angels, life eternally
blessedIn the hosts of Heaven.
The days are goneWhen the kingdoms of earth flourished in
glory;Now there are no rulers, no emperors,No givers of gold, as
once there were,When wonderful things were worked among themAnd
they lived in lordly magnificence.Those powers have vanished, those
pleasures are dead,The weakest survives and the world
continues,Kept spinning by toil. All glory is tarnished,
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50
55
60
65
70
75
80
85
50 admonish (Bd-mJnPGsh): criticize or
caution.
53 summer’s sentinel (sDnPtE-nEl), the
cuckoo: summer’s guard or watchman.
The cries of cuckoos are common in
Europe in summer, but in autumn the
birds migrate south.
b imagery
Note how the images in lines
44–57 contrast with the images of
the sea. How is the speaker affected
by thoughts of life on land?
c mONiTOr
Notice the break at line 64. Here
the speaker turns to a new idea.
How do you interpret the sentence
beginning “Thus the joys of God . . .”?
80 hosts of Heaven: bands of angels.
106 unit 1: the anglo-saxon and medieval periods
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The world’s honor ages and shrinks,Bent like the men who mold
it. Their facesBlanch as time advances, their beardsWither and they
mourn the memory of friends,The sons of princes, sown in the
dust.The soul stripped of its flesh knows nothingOf sweetness or
sour, feels no pain,Bends neither its hand nor its brain. A
brotherOpens his palms and pours down goldOn his kinsman’s grave,
strewing his coffinWith treasures intended for Heaven, but
nothingGolden shakes the wrath of GodFor a soul overflowing with
sin, and nothingHidden on earth rises to Heaven. d
We all fear God. He turns the earth,He set it swinging firmly in
space,Gave life to the world and light to the sky.Death leaps at
the fools who forget their God.He who lives humbly has angels from
HeavenTo carry him courage and strength and belief.A man must
conquer pride, not kill it,Be firm with his fellows, chaste for
himself,Treat all the world as the world deserves,With love or with
hate but never with harm,Though an enemy seek to scorch him in
hell,Or set the flames of a funeral pyreUnder his lord. Fate is
strongerAnd God mightier than any man’s mind.Our thoughts should
turn to where our home is,Consider the ways of coming there,Then
strive for sure permission for usTo rise to that eternal joy,That
life born in the love of GodAnd the hope of Heaven. Praise the Holy
eGrace of Him who honored us,Eternal, unchanging creator of earth.
Amen.
Translated by Burton Raffel
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95
100
105
110
115
120
Literary Analysis
1. Paraphrase What views does the speaker express about
earthly life and God in lines 64–124 ?
2. Compare How does the last half of the poem (from line
64 on) relate to the first half of the poem?
110 chaste (chAst): pure in thought and
deed.
114 funeral pyre (pFr): a bonfire for
burning a corpse.
e MONITOR
Paraphrase the advice the speaker gives in lines 117–122. Where
is “our home”?
d MONITOR
Visualize the images of the world in lines 80–102. What main
idea do they convey?
the seafarer 107
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This lonely traveler longs for grace,For the mercy of God; grief
hangs onHis heart and follows the frost-cold foamHe cuts in the
sea, sailing endlessly,Aimlessly, in exile. Fate has openedA single
port: memory. He seesHis kinsmen slaughtered again, and cries:
“I’ve drunk too many lonely dawns,Grey with mourning. Once there
were menTo whom my heart could hurry, hotWith open longing. They’re
long since dead.My heart has closed on itself, quietlyLearning that
silence is noble and sorrowNothing that speech can cure. SadnessHas
never driven sadness off;Fate blows hardest on a bleeding heart.So
those who thirst for glory smotherSecret weakness and longing,
neitherWeep nor sigh nor listen to the sicknessIn their souls. So
I, lost and homeless,Forced to flee the darkness that fellOn the
earth and my lord. f
Leaving everything,Weary with winter I wandered outOn the frozen
waves, hoping to findA place, a people, a lord to replaceMy lost
ones. No one knew me, now,No one offered comfort, allowedMe
feasting or joy. How cruel a journeyI’ve traveled, sharing my bread
with sorrowAlone, an exile in every land,Could only be told by
telling my footsteps.For who can hear: “friendless and poor,”And
know what I’ve known since the long cheerful nightsWhen, young and
yearning, with my lord I yet feastedMost welcome of all. That
warmth is dead.He only knows who needs his lordAs I do, eager for
long-missing aid;He only knows who never sleeps
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25
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35
The anderer
Language Coach
Roots and Affixes Added to an adjective, the suffix -ly forms an
adverb (like endlessly or aimlessly, lines 4–5). Added to a noun,
-ly means “relating to” and forms an adjective. How is the suffix
used in ghostly and worldly (lines 71–72)?
f
MONITOR
What has happened to the speaker, and what is his state of
mind?
31 telling: counting.
108 unit 1: the anglo-saxon and medieval periods
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Without the deepest dreams of longing.Sometimes it seems I see
my lord,Kiss and embrace him, bend my handsAnd head to his knee,
kneeling as thoughHe still sat enthroned, ruling his thanes.And I
open my eyes, embracing the air,And see the brown sea-billows
heave,See the sea-birds bathe, spreadingTheir white-feathered
wings, watch the frostAnd the hail and the snow. And heavy in
heartI long for my lord, alone and unloved.Sometimes it seems I see
my kinAnd greet them gladly, give them welcome,The best of friends.
They fade away,Swimming soundlessly out of sight,Leaving nothing.
g
How loathsome becomeThe frozen waves to a weary heart.
In this brief world I cannot wonderThat my mind is set on
melancholy,Because I never forget the fateOf men, robbed of their
riches, suddenlyLooted by death—the doom of earth,Sent to us all by
every risingSun. Wisdom is slow, and comesBut late. He who has it
is patient;He cannot be hasty to hate or speak,He must be bold and
yet not blind,Nor ever too craven, complacent, or covetous,Nor
ready to gloat before he wins glory.The man’s a fool who flings his
boastsHotly to the heavens, heeding his spleenAnd not the better
boldness of knowledge.What knowing man knows not the
ghostly,Waste-like end of worldly wealth:See, already the wreckage
is there,The wind-swept walls stand far and wide,The storm-beaten
blocks besmeared with frost,The mead-halls crumbled, the monarchs
thrown downAnd stripped of their pleasures. The proudest of
warriorsNow lie by the wall: some of them warDestroyed; some the
monstrous sea-birdBore over the ocean; to some the old wolfDealt
out death; and for some dejectedFollowers fashioned an earth-cave
coffin.Thus the Maker of men lays waste
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50
55
60
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70
75
80
43 thanes (thAnz): followers of a lord.
69 spleen: bad temper. The spleen is a
body organ that was formerly thought to
be the seat of strong emotions.
g imagery
In what way do the images from
the speaker’s past contrast with the
images of the present?
110 unit 1: the anglo-saxon and medieval periods
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This earth, crushing our callow mirth.And the work of old giants
stands withered and still.” h
He who these ruins rightly sees,And deeply considers this dark
twisted life,Who sagely remembers the endless slaughtersOf a bloody
past, is bound to proclaim:
“Where is the war-steed? Where is the warrior?Where is his
war-lord?
Where now the feasting-places? Where now the mead-hall
pleasures?
Alas, bright cup! Alas, brave knight!Alas, you glorious princes!
All gone,Lost in the night, as you never had lived.And all that
survives you a serpentine wall,Wondrously high, worked in strange
ways.Mighty spears have slain these men,Greedy weapons have framed
their fate.
These rocky slopes are beaten by storms,This earth pinned down
by driving snow,By the horror of winter, smothering warmthIn the
shadows of night. And the north angrilyHurls its hailstorms at our
helpless heads.Everything earthly is evilly born,Firmly clutched by
a fickle Fate.Fortune vanishes, friendship vanishes,Man is
fleeting, woman is fleeting,And all this earth rolls into
emptiness.”
So says the sage in his heart, sitting alone with
Histhought.
It’s good to guard your faith, nor let your grief come
forthUntil it cannot call for help, nor help but heedThe path
you’ve placed before it. It’s good to find your graceIn God, the
heavenly rock where rests our every hope. i
Translated by Burton Raffel
85
90
95
100
105
110
Literary Analysis
1. Compare How does the wanderer’s present life
compare with his former life?
2. Summarize What does a wise man understand,
according to the wanderer?
84 callow (kBlPI) mirth: childish joy.
95 serpentine (sûrPpEn-tCnQ): winding or
twisting, like a snake.
h imagery
What ideas about earthly life do you
get from the images in lines 74–85?
Note that “work of old giants” refers
to old ruins and burial mounds.
i mONiTOr
Reread lines 110–113. Is the wanderer
speaking, or is someone else? What
advice is offered in these lines?
the wanderer 111
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I make this song about me full sadly jmy own wayfaring. I a
woman tellwhat griefs I had since I grew upnew or old never more
than now.Ever I know the dark of my exile.
First my lord went out away from his peopleover the wave-tumult.
I grieved each dawnwondered where my lord my first on earth might
be.Then I went forth a friendless exileto seek service in my
sorrow’s need.My man’s kinsmen began to plotby darkened thought to
divide us twoso we most widely in the world’s kingdomlived
wretchedly and I suffered longing.
My lord commanded me to move my dwelling here.I had few loved
ones in this landor faithful friends. For this my heart
grieves:that I should find the man well matched to mehard of
fortune mournful of mindhiding his mood thinking of murder. k
Blithe was our bearing often we vowedthat but death alone would
part us twonaught else. But this is turned roundnow . . . as if it
never wereour friendship. I must far and nearbear the anger of my
beloved.The man sent me out to live in the woods
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25
The ife’s ament
Language Coach
Multiple Meanings Service (line 10) can mean “help” or “the job
of a servant,” among other things. One obsolete meaning is “a
pledge of love.” How do these different meanings affect your
interpretation of the events in lines 11–14?
6 my lord: the speaker’s husband.
7 wave-tumult: a kenning, or compound
metaphoric expression, for the sea.
j
OLD ENGLISH POETRY
The translator has divided each line with a caesura, or pause,
which helps maintain the rhythm of the line. What do the pauses
emphasize?
k
MONITOR
Why is the wife in exile?
112 unit 1: the anglo-saxon and medieval periods
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under an oak tree in this den in the earth.Ancient this earth
hall. I am all longing.
The valleys are dark the hills highthe yard overgrown bitter
with briarsa joyless dwelling. Full oft the lack of my lordseizes
me cruelly here. Friends there are on earthliving beloved lying in
bedwhile I at dawn am walking aloneunder the oak tree through these
earth halls.There I may sit the summerlong daythere I can weep over
my exilemy many hardships. Hence I may not restfrom this care of
heart which belongs to me evernor all this longing that has caught
me in this life. l
May that young man be sad-minded alwayshard his heart’s thought
while he must weara blithe bearing with care in the breasta crowd
of sorrows. May on himself dependall his world’s joy. Be he
outlawed farin a strange folk-land— that my beloved sitsunder a
rocky cliff rimed with frosta lord dreary in spirit drenched with
waterin a ruined hall. My lord enduresmuch care of mind. He
remembers too oftena happier dwelling. Woe be to themthat for a
loved one must wait in longing. m
Translated by Ann Stanford
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35
40
45
50
28–29 den . . . earth hall: In describing
her living quarters, the speaker uses an
expression something like the modern
“hole in the ground.”
42 that young man: the speaker’s
husband. In these final lines, the speaker
seems to wish for her husband to lead
the same sort of life that he has forced
her to endure.
l imagery
What does the speaker’s description
of her surroundings express about
her emotional state?
m imagery
What sad images does the speaker
imagine in lines 42–50?
114 unit 1: the anglo-saxon and medieval periods
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After Reading
Comprehension 1. Recall How does the speaker in “The Seafarer”
feel about life at sea?
2. Clarify Why is the title character in “The Wanderer” in
exile?
3. Clarify In “The Wife’s Lament,” what does the wife wish for
her husband?
Literary Analysis
4. Monitor Understanding Review the charts you made as you read.
What is
the speaker remembering or pondering in each poem? What elements
in
each poem helped you reach these conclusions?
5. Compare Texts Compare these three poems, noting similarities
you see in
each of the following elements:
• subject • mood • imagery • theme
6. Synthesize Ideas What ideas about Anglo-Saxon life and
religious attitudes
do you get from the poems?
7. Evaluate Imagery How does the imagery in these poems reflect
the passage
of time? Support your answer with details from the poems.
8. Apply Themes What advice might the speakers of “The Seafarer”
and “The
Wanderer” give the speaker of “The Wife’s Lament”? In what
circumstances
could modern people benefit from this advice?
Literary Criticism 9. Critical Interpretations There has been
much debate over the number
of speakers in “The Seafarer.” Some critics believe that a
second person
begins to speak at line 64, and others believe that there is
only one speaker
throughout the poem. Which interpretation do you believe is more
accurate,
and why?
When are people most alone? A cold, stony landscape mirrors the
harsh, unpredictable lives of the
Anglo–Saxons. What other kinds of landscapes might evoke a
feeling of
isolation or loneliness?
the seafarer / the wanderer / the wife’s lament 115
READING 3 Evaluate the changes in sound, form, figurative
language, and dramatic structure in poetry across literary time
periods. 7 Analyze how patterns of imagery reveal theme, set tone,
and create meaning. RC-12(A) Reflect on understanding to monitor
comprehension.
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